Lone: The Wanderer

Book 2: Chapter 65: Choosing a Task and Purple Opulence

Reclamation of Outpost Dunthon

Situation: The outpost is at the end of a long string of Farwind roads that have been blocked off for centuries. Since the local council stopped funding the clearing of the road, the outpost was abandoned and has since been inhabited by a band of unlawful exiles.

Reward upon completion (if not completed as the required yearly task): 1% sentence duration reduction.

Reclamation of Farwind Road Lunardah

Situation: It's an important road that connects Krieg Fer to Urd Tirn, which in turn connects to Krieg Doorun. It's been overrun by an infestation of Lunar Crystal Bloodwings.

Reward upon completion (if not completed as the required yearly task): 3% sentence duration reduction.

Reclamation of Krieg Stunfurn

Situation: From what we've gathered, a topsider blood mage managed to sneak into the Krieg and pull off a mass sacrificial ritual. All of the residents have been turned into abominations of sorts. Just looking at them can spell certain death.

Reward upon completion (if not completed as the required yearly task): 50% sentence duration reduction.

Lone stroked his chin carefully. Of course, he had to choose the easiest possible task on this board first. It would be such a waste to, for example, reclaim Krieg Stunfurn only for that very appealed 50% reduction to not be applied to his sentence.

If he could get out of here in just a few months to a year legally, he'd rather do that than just leave as soon as he got bored which was the original plan.

'Man, I super badly want to go to that krieg right now. What kinda awesome resistances would I get? Blood Magic Resistance? Madness Resistance? Would that fall under Insanity Resistance? What about levelling Curse Resistance further? Sounds super dangerous for Soph and Breena though,' he thought.

Keeping that in mind, Lone moved along the board as he kept reading task notice after task notice.

A secluded manor hidden in a Farwind offshoot overrun by mutant underground plants with a 30% reduction reward. An urd sunken into a pit that appeared overnight and has no survivors return from it after being sent to investigate with a 35% reduction reward. Another urd where whoever enters is compelled to stay against their own will with a 42% reduction rate.

"Lot of high-risk high-reward tasks, huh?" Lone asked the guards.

Thron grunted, "'Course there are. Ye lot get slapped wae the shite nae one else wants tae dae. Just so 'appens 'at's usually the suicide missions. 'Sides, all the easy ones get snapped up real quick by the dregs in 'ere."

Lone slowly nodded his head. "Guess that makes sense. Not everyone forced here is high-ranked or probably even a fighter at all in some cases. You've no doubt got production-focused criminals here too, right? Like alchemists gone rogue who you use to cook up some 'pots for the army or something. Bet they'd be eager to do easy tasks."

"Heh, so yer brain does work. Hurry up now an' pick ah feckin' task. We cannae be standin' 'ere all day," Thron spat out while wearing a mean scowl.

Lone shrugged. "Go fuck yourself. I'll take however much time I want."

And do just that he did. Granted, it only took him another five minutes to find a suitable task. Luckily, one of the places Hamish had informed Sophie of having Sheinlings in it was currently listed as a task here.

Reclamation of Urd Siltal

Situation: Sweet and simple. A sub-clan of Sheinlings have overun the urd. They massacred the citizens overnight. There is estimated to be between 100 and 125 of the little fuckers in and around the urd. No signs of the Over Well.

Reward upon completion (if not completed as the required yearly task): 2% sentence duration reduction.

'Must be one of the two urds Hamish mentioned to Sophie,' Lone thought as he pointed at the request. "I'll do this one. Can we head to the guild now?"

Thron shook his head and glared at Lone. "Feckin' finally. An' naw, ya cannae. First thing in the morrow. Tonight at the earliest, if ye'r lucky. Fae now, we've gotta tell the warden an' 'e's gotta do the paperwork to allow you tae gae ootside. Be prepared tae meet one o' the few mages stationed in the krieg, Fox."

The dwarf laughed as he grabbed Lone by the wrist and roughly dragged him out of the room.

'I'm guessing compulsion magic of some sort gets used on us to make us return? Or something similar. Maybe normal contracting magic? Must be painful to endure regardless for him to be giggling like a schoolgirl. Sounds like nothing but a free resistance skill to me,' Lone thought in joy.

When he was returned to his cell, Lone decided to just go to sleep immediately. As much as he would have liked to have trained for the rest of the day, he was serious about listening to his lover's advice.

If she wanted him to sleep and rest, sleep and rest he would. Resistance training and nightmares both be damned.

"Hello~"

Lone groaned powerfully as he opened his eyes. "Yup, not in my cell. Also not in Urd Grun though."

From the looks of things, he was in some sort of middle-eastern royal chamber. It honestly looked amazing though it was very purple, overbearingly so.

The plush and numerous cushions were all displayed in shades of lavender and violet. The pillars that spiralled 20-metres up to the slanted walls of the chamber were made entirely out of a deep and glossy pure amethyst crystal. The random assortments of jewellery and riches that had been strewn about the room made it a struggle to move, they were golden but also encrusted with gems exclusive to the purple variety.

'Is this a pyramid? The way the walls are makes me think so but it feels almost ancient Persian in here, not ancient Egyptian,' Lone noted as his eyes fell onto the person who had greeted him.

Sitting lazily atop a large stack of pillows with a pipe in its mouth was who Lone could only assume to be the Primal, Darkness. It was, of course, assuming Lone's form with his hair and all nine tails being pure dark purple along with his eyes.

"We're in here," Darkness said as he pointed at his forehead.

Lone raised an eyebrow. "My head? Well that's hardly a surprise given you live inside of me now. Any reason we're here? I already defeated you, if you'd be so kind as to recall."

"Aha, Loney boy... You didn't beat me. Harsios did. Demigods are so tricky. I really didn't expect you to so frivolously use a wish to save Breena. I suppose even the great and might Primal, Darkness, can make mistakes, no?" the being lamented.

Lone slowly nodded. "I suppose so."

"So much suspicion! It's really rather uncalled for. This little pyramid of mine? It's just a representation of my holding cell within your soul. Quaint, is it not? And no, I didn't bring you here. I was just as surprised as you when you showed up. You are sleeping though, so want to chat? For old time's sake?" Darkness suggested.

"Quaint? More like needlessly lavish. It is nice though. And chat about what?" Lone asked.

He was deeply on edge in truth since he knew for a fact that he couldn't trust a word the existence before him spoke, but he hardly knew how to forcefully leave this place so he'd have to go along with it for the time being.

Darkness shrugged as it took a puff of a long pipe. "Anything. It's so boring in here. Only Sky gets to peek into the real world since you actually use his skill. He's craftier than I expected to have made such an accessible skill for his Avatar. Both Void and I had no luck in that regard."

'Using Primal skills lets them see into the real world? Is that true, a lie, or partially true?' Lone wondered. 'And what are the implications?'

"30,000 SP and 50,000 MP is a hard ask for a skill that can only be used once a week and not even offensively," Lone pointed out.

"At your level it's a hard ask. And not even offensively? Loney boy, open your mind. You like to think of possibilities, yes? Just as Void's skill can be used for more than wanton destruction, and just like how Sky's skill can be used to walk upsidedown, mine can be used for so much more than is presented on the tin. You wound me by suggesting anything less," Darkness claimed as he held a hand to his chest and winced mockingly.

"Uhuh. So... all this," Lone said, gesturing around himself, "This gonna become a regular meeting?"

Darkness shrugged. "I'm not sure. I do see something though. A possibility. Would you be interested in hearing it?"

Lone raised an eyebrow. "You'll tell me anyway, so shoot."

"I do love how cooperative you are despite our past differences. Well, my idea is rather simple. I believe I can force this interaction to happen at a specific time. I'd like to experiment with that before moving forward with the idea. As my warden, of course, I seek your permission," the purple-haired Lone asked with a shit-eating grin on its face.

Lone paced for a bit. "Sure. I don't see why not. I can't trust you didn't force this meeting already, so it would certainly be better if I knew exactly what time future meetings would happen so I could plan around them. I would like to have ordinary dreams every now and then instead of being whisked away at the behest of your mercy."

"And have them you shall. I'll try to prevent this meeting from happening again until two Saturdays have come and gone. On the second Saturday, at, oh, let's say... midnight? At midnight, the turn of Sunday, I'll see if I can make this meeting happen again," Darkness offered.

Lone sighed. "I really wish I could trust you. The sheer amount of knowledge you must have... Whatever. Two Saturdays from now then. How do you even know about how Earth categorised the weekdays?"

"I may not actually be able to read memories as I previously had alluded to, but I can see surface thoughts if I try to. Dreams can tell a man about a lot of things too. I know a lot about your planet of origin," Darkness confessed. "Would you like to leave now? I'm happy trying to force you into a normal dream. I can't actually hurt you since that would risk myself what with my new residence being within your very soul. I'd even be happy to try to give you dreams every night instead of your intermittent nightmares. Repair the burnt broken bridge and whatnot."

"Eh, no. I'll pass on leaving right now. I have no fuckin' idea if you need consent like some sort of vampire or demon, but I'll happily wait this out," Lone replied instantly.

Darkness nodded as he took another puff of his pipe. "That's fair. And about the dreams?"

Lone considered it for a moment. "Okay. I can't exactly seek a therapist given my current situation so I'll try to trust you on that. Fuck me over, however, and just watch as I find a way in here every day to blast you repeatedly with Mental Destruction."

"Lovely. Worst-case scenario, you get new resistance skills if I try to meddle, is your current line of thinking, no?" Darkness chuckled. "And you get to vent, of course."

"You've got me all figured out," Lone replied sarcastically.

"Not yet, but I will with time," Darkness answered. "Well then. Chess to pass the time? It would be interesting if your mastery skill on the subject levels while here, would it not?"

"I can play some chess, sure," Lone said.

Lone was startled awake by a sharp and deep, "Oi! Breakfast. Ye'r also due fae the warden's office in two hoors so clean yerself up."

Lone nodded lightly, barely conscious enough to tell the dwarf had a different voice from Thron's. He slowly sat up and yawned.

"That was a fuckin' amazing dream," he mumbled as he leaned over and grabbed his tray containing a bowl of suspicious soup and a cup of water. 'At least Darkness kept its promise. Still, is it weird for my one good dream in months to be one of me, Soph, and Sophie, all just cuddling in bed with Kyuubi sleeping at our feet?'

Lone entertained the thought for a moment if that would technically be a form of cheating if both sides of his lover had a body of their own.

He soon dismissed the thought as nonsense. Even if that did come to pass, it'd be a consenting form of having multiple partners. Or multiple forms of the same partner? 'I need to stop thinking about this.'

And so he went on to consume his 'breakfast' and go over his system notifications.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Chess Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Chess Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Chess Mastery] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 4.

'It actually worked. Haven't practised that skill ever since I first played against Kerny back in Milindo.' A brief wave of nostalgia passed over Lone as he thought about the Lesher.

Soon not so pleasant thoughts made their presence known so Lone sighed and moved on. Milindo was still a sore subject in his mind.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Sleep Deprivation Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.

"Just like Hunger and Thirst Resistance. Sating it gave it a level. Very interesting," Lone mumbled. "Wonder if there's a Lust Resistance skill and if it works on my own lust, or the palpable lust of others."

Morning thoughts could be frightening, at times.

Once he was done with breakfast, Lone wrote in his diary and then mediated until the guards came to bring him to the warden's office.

"No Thron today?" he asked his escort of short men.

The leading guard shook his head. "Cunt and his crew works first sun tae fourth. Today's fifth sun."

"Ah, you're the weekend crew. Gotcha," Lone replied. 'First sun represents Sunday, so nine days to see if Darkness is at least somewhat reliable.'

The rest of the trip to the warden's office was travelled in silence. Lone was excited, however, to earn some new resistance skills today.

What better chance to earn contract magic or a similar such resistance would he get than one where he was okay with the conditions of the magic he was forced into? After all, all he had to agree to today was to return once he completed his task. Well, and to not blab about the sentence reduction thing.

Too bad for them that he'd already filled Soph in regarding that little tidbit. Telepathy was a hell of an ability.

'I'm sure there are other caveats like not to commit crimes while outside, but I'm not a criminal by choice if you ignore all of the times I've chosen to commit a crime,' he joked as the large stone door at the end of the hallway was opened for him by the very helpful guards.